Cobalt-60 Rods: Totally Silent. Totally Deadly.



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20 thoughts on “Cobalt-60 Rods: Totally Silent. Totally Deadly.”

  1. 7:30 -the number of neutrons in the only stable isotope of cobalt (Co-59) is not 27, but 32. 27 is the number of protons (the atomic number). So it takes just one neutron to transform a stable, naturally occurring atom of cobalt into the radioactive Cobalt-60, not five neutrons.

    Fortunately today such radiation sources are a thing of the past, being replaced by electron accelerators with X-ray conversion.

    Reply
  2. Anybody confused about the yellow smoke, its a product of the lead being vaporized by the excessive heat. Not related to the toxic sludge or anything.

    Basically looks like a yellow smoke bomb. Also probably looks like an EPA fine of some sort too.

    Reply
  3. alpha emitters even plutonium i wouldn't be scared to touch then but we are scared of beryllium we won't let it come into the building. A customer asked the owners about beryllium the owners hit the roof,.

    Reply
  4. I would think people would see the radiation symbol and be scared. But that is just me i might not be normal. Nuclear energy was something I was fascinated with even as a child I even served in the navy in nuclear propulsion.

    Reply
  5. Mr Whistler. I’m a semi-regular viewer and feel a lot of the videos you host are barely past the clickbait definition. Which is fine, they do have usually accurate information so they just scrape over the line. Which is the intention, I suspect.
    But this one? Tour de force. It has all the ingredients of a sharks and Nazis type cliche but is handled well, tells a story that most people may not have heard, provides interesting and potentially life saving information and is full of human interest and precautionary tales.
    I’m sure you don’t give a shit what a rando in the comments says, but you should give yourself a pat on the back.

    I’m gonna subscribe just because of this incredible and brilliantly told story.

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  6. Cobalt 60 is *terrifying*, as anyone that's worked around nuclear power can tell you. Out of all the various isotopes i can think of, none is more ridiculously, pant-ŝĥîtṭîńĝły scary that Co-60; the halflife falls right in that sweet spot between "radioactive AF but dissipates relatively quickly" and "lasts long enough that the problem is now long-term". Cobalt-60 won't just give you acute radiation sickness… It'll sit in your body and slowly shred you from the inside out with gamma rays and beta particles over the course of YEARS, even in tiny, minute amounts.

    For those interested, Cobalt-60 in reactors comes from the bombardment of Cobalt-59 or Nickel-60. Nickel is widespread and a constituent metal in a wide variety of the alloys used in powerplants, and Cobalt is common in wear-resistant alloys like those found in valve seats.

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